Greenport Village Board discusses burned out house, farmers market

JULIE LANE FILE PHOTO | The Greenport Village Board has ordered that the fire-damaged home at 620 Second Street be demolished, but that's been held up in litigation.

Two subjects dominated Monday night’s Greenport Village Board meeting: the ongoing problems Second Street neighbors have with a burned out shell of a house three years after the fire, and parking issues exacerbated by a Saturday morning farmers market.

Attorney Gail Wickham, representing the Second Street Association, pledged to press for the house at 620 Second St. to be demolished. She said the North Fork Housing Alliance, which owns the property, has bowed to one complaint from neighbors by pulling back on its bid to renovate the three-family structure. Instead, the alliance has filed an application for a two-family structure that meets the existing zoning code.

The alliance had insisted it still had the right to rebuild a three-family structure, even though neighbors argued its variance was no longer applicable.

“It’s imperative that the building be removed immediately,” Ms. Wickham said.

The Village Board has already called for demolition, but litigation has delayed any action.

The parking issue flared up over the Greenport Farmers Market, which has been operating in the Adams Street parking lot between Main and First streets since last spring. The market will close Oct. 15, but the proprietors are expected to apply for a new permit next year.

Arlene Jaquillard, who owns the Greenport Laundromat, said her business has decreased 50 percent during the Saturday morning operation of the farmers market because customers can’t carry heavy laundry a long distance.

Mayor David Nyce promised that if market organizers make a bid to return to the site next year, public hearings will enable merchants and residents to weigh in with any problems they have experienced this year and those concerns will enter into the decision over whether or not the market can continue to operate in Greenport.

Check out Thursday’s Suffolk Times for more from the Village Board meeting.